706 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BR1TANNICUM. 



mauros, dark ; and Sir J. E. Smith suggests that it may have been taken by antiphrasis from 

 moros, foolish, the mulberry tree, from its slowness in putting out its leaves, being anciently con- 

 sidered the emblem of wisdom. The Morea, in the Levant, is said to be so called from the 

 resemblance of the shape of that peninsula to the leaf of a mulberry 



Gen. Char., fyc. Flowers unisexual, mostly monoecious, in some dioecious or 

 polygamous. Male flowers in axillary spikes. Calyx of 4 equal sepals, 

 imbricate in aestivation, expanded in flowering. Stamens 4 Female 

 Jlowers. Calyx of 4 leaves, in opposite pairs, the outer pair the larger, all 

 upright and persistent, becoming pulpy and juicy. Stamens 2, long. (G. 

 Don.) 



Le'aves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous ; large, mostly lobed and 

 rough. Flowers greenish white. Fruit the aggregate of the ovary and the 

 calyxes, constituting what is termed a mulberry. Trees, deciduous ; 

 natives of Europe, Asia, and North America. Propagated by cuttings or 

 layers, or by large truncheons, in good soil. 



The leaves of all the species will serve to nourish the silkworm ; but M. 

 alba, and its varieties, are considered much the best for this purpose. 



1 . M. 



Pair. The black-fruited, or common, Mulberry. 



Identification. Poir. Ency. Meth., 4. p. 377. ; Lin. Sp. PL, 1398 ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 369. 

 Synonymes. Mbrus Dod. Pempt. 810. ; M. fructu nlgro Bauh. Pin. 459. 



Engravings. Dend. Brit., t. 159. ; N. Du Ham., 4. t. 22. : the plate in Arb. Brit , 1st edit, vol. vii. ; 

 and our fig. 1380. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Sexes monoecious, sometimes dioecious. Leaves heart- 

 shaped, bluntish, or slightly lobed with about o lobes ; toothed with unequal 

 teeth, rough. ( Willd.) A deciduous tree. Persia. Height 20 ft. to 30 ft. 

 Introduced in 1548. Flowers greenish white ; June. Fruit oblong, red 

 or black ; ripe in August. 



Variety. 



*t M. n. 2 lacinidta Mill. Diet. No. 2. has the leaves jagged rather than cut. 



In Britain, the common mulberry always assumes something of a dwarf or 



stunted character, spreading into very thick arms, or branches, near the 



1380. Aforusnigra 



ground, and forming an extremely large head. It is a tree of very great 

 durability ; the trees at Syon being said to be 300 years old, and some at 



